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We’ve been “on the run” like a band of gypsies since May. And by “on the run” I mean living with family then running away from family then camping in our newly rented duplex in Montclair then returning to Atlanta to move then arriving back to our duplex with more boxes than space then totally neglecting the box unpacking to write this blog post.

Our transition from Atlanta to Montclair has taken longer than preferred but our decision to live here (versus Upper West or Brooklyn or Port Washington or…) was a quick and easy one. The moment our wheels rolled onto Bloomfield, we looked at each other with goofy grinned faces and breathlessly exhaled “this is it!” This.Is.It. Montclair is a dreamland for me – and while it could be because I am still in the honeymoon stages of living in a new quaint village-y town – I feel at home already. Our neighborhood is peppered with antique stores, bakeries (nomz), the Farmers Market, toy stores and boutiques and family-owned businesses we love to support. In nice weather we mostly walk to run our errands and otherwise nothing is further than a 4 minute drive.

Montclair Fave – Cuban Pete’s

Walnut Street with Adi

Toy Store Storefront Nearby

I’ve taken the boys on a few adventures and we look forward to being settled in and really exploring our new town. I’ll be sure to check in with photographic evidence of our future bakery & antiquing exploits.

Like this:

One of the many selling points of our little city cabin is the backyard: narrow and deep with bilevel decking and two huge raised stone flower beds flanking either side of its expanse, a stone and pebble path winding its way down the half-grown grass leading to…*wait for it*…a train caboose. On tracks. In our backyard. It was retrofitted to be a guest house with a bedroom, living room, kitchenette and full bath. I KNOW, RIGHT? So without further adieu…a pictorial. I am going to have to add more to this because I realized I hardly captured it’s caboosey-ness the first go ’round.

When it was finally time to do away with Kingston’s nursery, I opted to put the boys in the same bedroom and convert Hunter’s bedroom into a playroom. BEST decision evarrrr! The playroom is totally primary-colored-out and looks like a place to store toys. They stay in the playroom. The playroom door is closed at night or when guests arrive. The toyland is out of sight. I heart it! Wouldn’t have it any other way. I feel so strongly about it that if we had a 2 bedroom house I would opt to share a room with my kids just so I could keep the playroom. Ok maybe not. But they’d definitely sleep on the sofa in the living room.

Since I am an over-themer by nature, I went totally gaga for the kids’ room theme. They will likely never go on a real camping trip since they were born into a family of non-campers so their room should satisfy those boyhood camping urges. What’s that you say? It’ll increase their curiosity in camping and make them want to camp more? Dammit all! Well, we can at least hope my theory works.

Here’s our Master Bed & Bath all dolled up for the Sadie Hawkins dance. Actually, no…it looks like this every day. It’s Shabby Chic (although I kinda shudder at that term since it’s gone so mainstream and is oft used incorrectly) and also Flapper Chic and also Farmhouse Chic and also Granny Chic and Thrifty Chic and Upcycled Chic also Eclectic Alternative Chic. SO basically it’s just like totally chic, y’all. But what it is to me is a relaxing place where my eyes and mind can rest. With two monchichis underfoot all day e’ry day, a retreat is an important place to have. I would say this is the most “done” room in the house. Mainly because there is no more wall space.

After living here for 2 years and treating our upstairs as a storage area for my {verdigreen} shop and an off-limit tease to the kids (no thanks to the stairwell of doom…an iron spiral staircase which proved too dangerous for tots) I *finally* organized, unpacked, and surprised hubs with furniture for Christmas last year. It was well worth the wait as we now use this room several times per week. It’s our game-watching hangout, our family game night rec room, and my packing/shipping/picture-taking showroom for Etsy-ing. Since it’s completely separate from the rest of our house I opted for a more funky vintage mod look to give us a change in scenery when we head upstairs. The picture gallery below is a work in progress as I have a few angles left to take once the room is complete (or before I change it all again.)

When we moved here from West NY, we had 2 real rooms of furniture and suddenly a *huge* home (in comparison to our teensy NY dwelling) to fill. Hubs gave me a smidge of a budget to purchase furnishings and I had to get creative. Thus the distressed farmhouse preference was adopted. I’ve always been a modern/rustic gal but our new (super old 1930) place with its paned windows and exposed beam ceilings begged for mercy when it saw the minimalist style in my portfolio. I’ve taken some quick snapshots (and by some I mean 100s) to document what our house looks like now…a few of the rooms anyway…because it is ever-changing and my momnesia is sure to make me forget what our home once was. I’ll add a post for each room to keep it simple.